


Field Surgery

by windsorgirllove



Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Blood, Enemies to Lovers, Ill Advised Surgical Procedures, Kinda, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 05:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17156135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windsorgirllove/pseuds/windsorgirllove
Summary: On the night of the St. Pigionation's lockdown, Shuu has only one person left he can turn to for help.





	Field Surgery

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! This is a secret santa gift for @fluffyheretic on tumblr! Your prompts were a lot of fun, and I hope you like it!

The city was alive with noise. Someone had started the city wide storm siren, and ambulance raced from street to street. The whole city was focused on the commotion surrounding the school at the edge of town. No one noticed a single man slip away.

Well, limp away. Stumble away, really, flecks of blood dripping behind him and marking his trail. Shuu grimaced with every step. Nanaki was a very good shot. He couldn’t believe he had been fooled by that man. He couldn’t believe how poorly the whole evening had gone. Years of research, of careful planning, all down the drain thanks to Kawara’s son. But most of all, he couldn’t believe who he was crawling to for help.

But he couldn’t very well go back to the Hawk Party, not after how utterly the experiment had failed. They were not the kind of people who took failure lightly, and once they were done cleaning up this mess, they would certainly be looking for him. Besides, he had no more need for the party. His only goal in life had just been snuffed out, after all.

Shuu stumbled up the apartment building’s steps, glancing around him. No one was outside. He hadn’t seen a single soul on the street. It seemed that everyone was hiding indoors. It was probably safer that way, and it had let him travel through the city unhindered. He found the door he was looking for in the dim light, and banged on it, heedless of the noise he was making. It would all be covered up by the sirens anyway.

There was no reply from the apartment. Shuu slumped against the door and panted, holding his left shoulder. It throbbed in time with the wailing sirens. He gritted his teeth, and pounded on the door again. Finally a light came on in one of the windows, and the door opened.

For the first time in his entire life Tohri seemed speechless. Or maybe he was still asleep. He was blinking dumbly at Shuu. His hair was pulled back and he had an expensive looking silk dressing gown thrown over his pajamas. Shuu had never seen him without his makeup on before.

An ambulance went screaming by. Shuu hunched closer to the door, glancing after it, than back at the door. Tohri was still staring at him. He would have to be the one to start.

“...Look,” he growled. “I will let you gloat for however long you want if you just fix. Me. Up.”

Tohri blinked and narrowed his eyes. He glanced above Shuu’s head and surveyed the street. Shuu could almost see the gears turning in his head. Then he nodded, and smirked.

“Well, look who’s come crawling back,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “Couldn’t handle things on your own and turned to me, eh? I don’t blame you. How could someone like you measure up to a genius like me? Come in, if you must, and welcome to my glorious abode.”

Tohri stepped out of the doorway and Shuu shuffled past him, dragging his wounded leg. He hadn’t ever been in Tohri’s apartment before, even though he kept tabs on his address. It was not what he was expecting.

He had seen his office for Golden Weekly, one incredibly awkward meeting two years ago that Tohri had dragged him into once he figured out that Shuu was back in the city. The space had been huge and modern, all white panels and sheets of glass.

His apartment was tiny.

And cramped.

Shuu stumbled into what must have been the living room and looked around. It was filthy. Not dirty, as far as he could tell, but nowhere near his own standards for cleanliness. The room was overwhelmingly brown, both the floors and the walls, which were paneled in a decidedly non-modern fashion. And it was cramped, shelves lining the walls and mismatched furniture cluttering the room. Medical textbooks were shelved side by side with manga magazines. The upper shelves were filled with little figurines and other such tchotchkes.

“I can see where all of your manga money had gone,” Shuu remarked, smirking slightly.

“Shut up! And try not to drip blood on the carpet,” Tohri replied. He moved swiftly past him and into the kitchen, and shut the door. Shuu could hear running water behind it. He rolled his eyes, clasping his right hand to his left shoulder again to stop some of the blood. Most of the bleeding had stopped, although he was still dripping a little. He was also swaying a bit, most of his weight balanced on his left leg. The pain hadn’t really started seeping in until they were already out of the school. The police had surrounded the school and calmed the mob down for the most part, and he had snuck away while they were distracted by the children and Nanaki. He had managed it fairly well while he was travelling the city, until he arrived here.

Shuu bent over to examine one of the strange little figures crowded around on the shelves as a distraction. They were the same kind of colorful characters that Higure was always drawing. It had cat ears and a stick with a heart on it, and it was pointing it at him, yelling. Foolish. He could snap that stick like a twig.

It occured to Shuu in this moment that he had lost a lot of blood. Her little painted-on eyes were crossing. Or maybe his were. The whole room was getting a bit darker, and the cat girl was looming closer…

“I told you not to get blood on anything!” A hand gripped his uninjured shoulder and Tohri pulled him backwards. “Do you know how expensive it is to clean this carpet?”

“My apologies,” Shuu mumbled. “Perhaps if you didn’t spend all your money on children’s toys, you could afford it.”

“You leave Mew Mew out of this.” Tohri pulled him over to a kitchen chair and pushed him down in it. He rounded on him, glaring daggers. “Now what the actual hell did you do?”

Tohri had lost the robe and changed into an old faded t-shirt, although he was still wearing his pajama bottoms. His hair was pulled back tight in a ponytail. His hands and arms were scrubbed red and raw, and Shuu had felt some lingering heat where they had touched. His eyes flickered over Shuu’s body, cataloging his injuries.

Shuu smiled, though it was more of a grimace. “Aren’t you supposed to be gloating right about now?”

“Don’t rush me.” Tohri grabbed a card table that was leaning against the wall and set it up next to him. He went back into the kitchen and returned with an armful of medical instruments and spilled them on the table with a clatter. Tohri gingerly lifted Shuu’s arm, and Shuu winced. Tohri clicked his tongue and dropped it, grabbing something from the table. “Now tell me exactly what you did so I don’t amputate your arm.”

“I was shot,” Shuu said simply.

Tohri huffed and pulled at Shuu’s lab coat. He slid a pair of scissors between the fabric and cut it off his arm, exposing the bullet hole. Torhi grit his teeth, examining the wound.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the sirens going off all night, would it?” he asked.

“It might.”

“You dick, that kept me up all night!” Tohri pulled down Shuu’s sleeve roughly, exposing the skin. “What did you do this time?”

Shuu grit his teeth. “Weren’t you supposed to be gloating about now?”

“Don’t rush me!” Tohri picked up a pair of forceps and started digging into Shuu’s shoulder wound without any other warning.

Shuu trusted Tohri’s skill in medicine enough to let him do this, but it still hurt. A lot. Enough that Shuu couldn’t concentrate on anything Tohri was saying even if he had wanted to. Shuu had been prepared for this, he could handle pain, but this was… intense. His vision was tunneling again.

“Isa, are you listening to me?”

Shuu heard the clink of metal against porcelain and then his shoulder was being vigorously wrapped in bandages. He blinked back to life and rolled his shoulder, testing his arm. It still hurt.

“Didn’t realize you were so squeamish, Isa,” Tohri said. He walked around him, rubbing his arms down with a old towel. Both the towel and his hands were covered with blood. “Seems like a bad trait for a doctor to have.

Shuu focused on the shelf straight ahead. “Forgive me, my pain tolerance isn’t what it used to be. It’s not the most pleasant experience, to have a bullet dug out of your flesh.”

“I wouldn’t know. Because I don’t spend my time getting shot at like some lunatics.” Tohri dragged a stool over from another corner on the room. “And I don’t exactly have an anesthetic on hand.” Without asking he pulled Shuu’s leg up and propped it on the stool. He blew a piece of hair out of his eyes and put his hands on his hips, looking at him. “I have some vodka in the cupboard. Might help dull the pain.”

“Perfect, just like the olden days,” Shuu replied. “Why don’t you just saw my leg off while you’re at it?”

“Don’t tempt me.” Tohri disappeared back into the kitchen and reappeared with the bottle of vodka. Shuu snatched it out of his hands before he could even set it down. He downed half the bottle and grimaced. The burn in his throat was a pleasant distraction from the burn in every other part of his body, and soon he started to feel numb.

Tohri pouted as he watched him. “That was a new bottle…” he complained.

“I’ll pay you back,” Shuu managed to spit out after catching his breath.

“You’d better.” Tohri pulled a chair up to Shuu’s leg, sat in it, and scooted it in. “Between that and the deep cleaning for my apartment, I don’t think your puny teacher’s salary could handle it.”

“I wasn’t a teacher.” Shuu took another long swing from the bottle while Tohri cut off his pant leg. “Not that it matters now.”

“Oh, are you finally going to clue me in?” Tohri asked. “Not that I care, of course, but the whole city is acting like it’s the end of the world. It’s going to make things awfully difficult for work tomorrow.”

“With your little nerdlings? Please. I doubt they even noticed anything going on outside their little worlds.”

Tohri snorted, and kept prepping his leg. “Whatever. I mean, you really can’t help but make my life difficult, can you?” he asked, peeling off Shuu’s pant leg. “Are you really that obsessed with m-” Tohri stopped, staring down at his leg. “This is right through your kneecap.”

“Yes, believe me, I’ve noticed.”

“Shut up. How did you even walk here?” Tohri gingerly prodded at his knee. Shuu grimaced, taking another swing. The vodka helped numb it, but it couldn’t work miracles. Tohri was laser focused on his leg, moving his fingers over it with slow, deliberate movements.

“...it was Fujishiro’s brother,” Shuu admitted.

Tohri stopped. “Fujishiro?”

“I know, I don’t know where he learned to aim like that.”

“No, I thought he was dead.” Tohri sat back in his chair. “I thought the whole Fujishiro case was closed.”

“...well, you had left the party by then. You can’t expect to know all the details of every case.”

“Can’t I.” Shuu had told him. Even when Shuu was still with the Hawk Party he kept Tohri updated on its movements. He didn’t know why he did it. Maybe he was hoping Tohri would take them all out with his latest super villain scheme. Once Kawara had died, there wasn’t really anyone else in the party who mattered to him.

“What exactly have you done this time?” Tohri demanded.

“Don’t sound so put out. I was trying to do something nice for a change,” Shuu said. “... for Kawara’s son.

“Oh.” Tohri sat up straighter at that. “Oh, Isa.”

“I know.” Shuu put his head in his hand, the uninjured one. “Can you please just fix me?”

“You promised me gloating.” Snapping at each other was easier than discussing the topic further. Shuu was pretty sure that he could strap Tohri to a table with one of his contraptions and he would still have a comeback for him. But instead of launching into another self congratulatory tirade, Tohri fell silent. He was focused on Shuu’s knee again, picking out his tools methodically. His profile was illuminated by the soft light from the table lamp, a single strand of hair falling in front of his face.

Shuu took this moment of silence to slide his eyes shut. The drink was making him tired. It certainly wasn’t the events of the last twenty four hours. He wasn’t tired. He couldn’t be. There was still so much left to do.

“I’m guessing it went poorly?” Tohri asked, almost casually.

Shuu groaned, not opening his eyes. “It didn’t,” he said simply. “And I don’t think we’ll be able to use the St Pigionation’s research facility for quite some time.”

“That’ll cause some problems.” Tohri blew the hair out of his eyes and picked up the forceps. “Was this the project you’ve been working on?”

“The Charon Project, yes.” Tohri had been there at the very start of the project. It had been in the works for a very long time.

Tohri whistled. “No wonder the city’s shut down. It really is the end of the world.”

“I didn’t let it out,” Shuu said. “Humanity is safe for now.”

“Hmm.” Tohri leaned back over his leg. “Brace yourself.”

Shuu grabbed the edge of the seat and grit his teeth as Tohri dug the forceps in. Tohri’s focus was laser like, and it wasn’t long before he pulled the bullet out.

“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Tohri asked. He flashed Shuu a grin, holding the bullet up proudly.”

“... You need to work on your bedside manner,” Shuu said through teeth still gritted.

“You’re one to talk, my friend.” Tohri examined the bullet closely, then turned back to him. “You know, Ryuuji probably wouldn’t have been happy about it anyway.”

Shuu looked away. “I know.”

The bullet clinked in the ceramic dish.

Tohri got up briefly and returned with a roll of bandages. He wrapped it around Shuu’s knee until he couldn’t even bend it if he wanted to. “You should stay off it,” Tohri said. “And go to a hospital, seriously. I can’t reconstruct bones.”

“You know I can’t do that. Every hospital in the country knows who I am.” Shuu tried to get up, stumbling whenever he put weight on his arm or leg. He collapsed back on the chair, gasping in pain.

“Seriously, you need surgery. You might not be able to walk again.” Tohri brought the instruments back to the kitchen and ran the water. “What are you even planning to do?”

“I’m leaving the country,” Shuu said. “As soon as I can. Which, if you care to help,” he added as Tohri came back into the room, “I would be most appreciative.”

“You already owe me your life, what more are you willing to give?” Tohri asked. He rolled his eyes as Shuu bared his teeth at him and circled around him, grabbing him under the arms. His hands were radiating heat. “And you’re not going anywhere tonight, unless you want to get shot again.”

“Do you doubt my ability?” Shuu asked.

“You are not immune to bullets, Isa. Obviously.” Tohri hoisted him up, taking most of his weight. Shuu could feel him shuddering a little as he struggled to support him. “You are staying here. Doctor’s orders.”

“You aren’t even a real doctor - where are you taking me?” Shuu asked.

“To bed.”

“At least buy me dinner first.”

“Shut up! You need rest. How long have you even been awake? It isn’t healthy!”

“I don’t need to hear that from you, mister Manga Editor.” Shuu struggled against him weakly. “The couch is fine, you don’t need to do this.”

“I’m not going to make you sleep on the couch. Really, what kind of person do you think I am?” Tohri nearly shoved him through the door and onto the bed. Compared to the living room, it was much cleaner, almost Spartan. The bed was a queen, with crisp white sheets that were certainly about to get absolutely ruined by blood. Here was the display of Tohri’s modern sensibilities. It was as close to highline chic that he could get in an apartment like this. Tohri pushed him down onto the bed, jostling him in the process. Shuu winced and Tohri had the gall to look apologetic.

“And where are you going to sleep?” Shuu asked.

“It’s a big bed, you fool.” Tohri climbed over him and pulled on Shuu’s leg, laying it out straight. He tugged off his shoes as well, throwing them off into the room.

“Ah, of course. How silly of me to expect you to sacrifice some of your personal comfort for my sake. My mistake.” Shuu shrank back into the bed as Tohri methodically felt along his body, checking for any other injuries he might have missed. Tohri rolled his eyes and leaned across his chest to check his shoulder. Some of his hair brushed gently across Shuu’s cheek. He felt his breath catch, and he reached up to push him away. But somehow instead he ended up just brushing the hair out of Tohri’s face, tucking it behind his ear. Tohri hadn’t been paying attention to him, but at his gentle touch he looked down. They locked eyes.

Then Tohri ran his hand from Shuu’s shoulder to his chest and Shuu gasped in pain. Tohri immediately pulled back in shock. They stayed frozen there for another second. Then Tohri sighed and closed his eyes, slinking off the bed. “Maybe I will sleep on the couch…” he said.

“No, you don’t have too-” Shuu started, before his pride and the pain still ringing in his shoulder shut him up. Tohri smiled slightly at him, then turned and tossed his hair over his shoulder.

“Don’t think I’m doing this for you,” he said. “I need room to stretch out when I sleep. My magnificence can’t be contained to one measly corner of the bed. Besides, what kind of doctor would I be if I just injured you by kicking you in your sleep?”

“Still not a doctor…” Shuu mumbled.

“Just try to rest,” Tohri continued. “Tomorrow comes the fun part - smuggling you out of the country. I have a few connections in Europe, don’t worry. You’re gonna be fine.”

“I know I’ll be fine,” Shuu shot back. He watched as Tohri waltzed out the door. He had come through. Shuu knew that he would. They sniped and fought with each other, but at the end of the day they were one and the same. Neither of them fit into this world. Sometimes it felt like he was the only person Shuu could stand. Not to say he was fond of him or anything. Any feelings he was feeling tonight were surely the result of stress. The events of the last 24 hours were really just that odd. And he was sure Tohri must feel the same.

A few minutes later the door open. Shuu glanced up as Tohri entered. His hair was back down, and it was covering his face. He was grabbing his arm, nails digging into the skin.

“Is something the matter?” Shuu asked.

Tohri shuffled in, a little jerky, and crossed to the side of the bed Shuu was on. He grabbed the front of Shuu’s shirt and pulled him up, and kissed him. He held him for about ten seconds, frozen, and then let him flop back onto the bed. They stared at each other. Then Tohri closed his eyes and scrubbed his hands through his hair, letting out a long breath.

“Okay,” he muttered. “Okay. We’ll deal with this tomorrow.” And before Shuu could say anything, he left.


End file.
